Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has urged the Federal High Court Headquarters to delay or suspend its June 20, 2025, deadline for ending the manual filing of new cases in its Lagos State Judicial Division by legal practitioners.
The senior lawyer gave his reasons in a statement on Monday titled “URGENT APPEAL FOR SUSPENSION OF DIGITIZATION OF FEDERAL HIGH COURT REGISTRY.”
Nairametrics previously reported that the FHC Headquarters formally notified all legal practitioners and the general public that the e-filing platform will become operational in the Lagos Division effective June 23, 2025, while manual filing is to end by June 20.
FHC Directive
The Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Sulaiman Amida Hassan, Esq., announced that e-filing will, by June 23, become the standard procedure in Lagos, the nation’s economic nerve centre.
Hassan stated that all cases instituted prior to the go-live date shall continue to be processed manually until judgment is delivered and those matters are finally disposed of.
All legal practitioners were enjoined to be guided accordingly and to ensure strict compliance.
Adegboruwa Reacts
Reacting to the development, Adegboruwa advised that there is a need for caution, as filing and prosecution of cases go beyond e-filing and processing, adding that they involve the consideration and application of fundamental issues relating to the constitutional rights of litigants and their lawyers.
- He highlighted that, given the Federal High Court’s 2025 annual long vacation from July 28 to September 16, “the implementation of the e-filing regime can be delayed till the new legal year in September 2025 to give enough time for lawyers and litigants to prepare themselves for the new system.”
- According to him, the second reason for proposing a postponement of the e-filing regime in Lagos is the issue of facilities, space, and convenience.
- He claimed that the current registry of the Federal High Court in Lagos cannot accommodate the volume of work associated with e-filing, at least based on the current experience in other courts where this has been tried.
“All things being equal, the Lagos Division of the Court should relocate to its ultra-modern new court complex very soon,” he stated.
- Furthermore, he stressed that, with regard to e-filing, there should be no half measures in the application of such a robust innovation in the FHC.
“It is either we are digitizing the court or we are not. Will litigants file their processes digitally, and judges thereafter conduct their proceedings manually? Will it now be possible for lawyers to apply for and obtain certified true copies of records of proceedings, rulings, and judgments digitally?” he asked.
- The senior lawyer doubted the durable implementation of the e-filing regime in the Lagos Division, citing the issue of Nigeria’s unreliable power supply and internet coverage.
- He also drew the court’s attention to the issue of confidentiality, stressing that documents submitted to the court are classified as strictly confidential, as they sometimes involve very private issues relating to wills, financial details, and other sensitive documents.
- He highlighted that litigants and lawyers operating in remote areas, where internet coverage is very poor, could be negatively affected, and that this lofty idea may end up benefiting only the elite.
He stressed that even if the FHC in Lagos goes ahead to commence e-filing of cases, there remains the issue of appeals and the process of settlement, compilation, and transmission of records of appeal to the Court of Appeal—an appellate court that, according to him, presently operates a manual registry.
He concluded that the authorities of the Federal High Court should “consider suspending or delaying the implementation of the digital filing regime until the Lagos Division has moved to its permanent and new location”.
He added that even when e-filing commences, digitization should run contemporaneously with manual filing until such a time that all those who patronize the court have become accustomed to the new system.
Backstory
Recall that the Federal High Court of Nigeria had, on June 11, 2024, announced its practice directions on the newly introduced Electronic Affidavit (E-Affidavit) for the benefit of litigants and other users.
The practice direction was approved by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, in the exercise of his powers as conferred by Orders 57 and 58 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019 and all other powers enabling him in that respect.
The aim of the practice directions was to ensure data protection in a user-friendly automated system for deposing to E-Affidavits in the courts.
